Season Analysis: The League is no longer just about fantasy football (not that it ever really was), and Season 5 was at its best when it most purposefully broke away from its normal routine.

“Rafi and Dirty Randy”
“Rafi and Dirty Randy” has the structure of a backdoor pilot, insofar as it focuses on a couple of ancillary characters removed from the show’s regular action. It begins with a connection to the main characters, with Rafi stealing Kevin’s car for his and Dirty Randy’s trip of vengeance to L.A. But this is a nightmare version of a backdoor pilot. While this episode certainly piqued my interest enough to get me to check out a theoretical Rafi & Dirty Randy series, I do not think that was ever the intention. Maybe this was an actual backdoor pilot in an alternate universe in which psychopathic logic such as “take care of it” meaning “set it on fire” is the normal logic of FXX characters. Although, come to think of it, the characters on The League, and of course It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia as well, have various degrees of psychopathy. So, come on FXX, let’s get on a spinoff of The League’s two best side characters! Jason Mantzoukas is ready to be a star!

Season Analysis: Having never watched The League before this season, but having been familiar with Nick Kroll, Paul Scheer, and Mark Duplass, it was surprising to discover that Jon Lajoie is the best member of this cast. The other revelation of this season was that Brooklyn Decker is a talented – and scary – comedic actress.

“The Anchor Baby”
To further my argument that Jon Lajoie is the best member of the cast of The League despite being the smallest name, I present as evidence “The Anchor Baby,” in which Taco moves into a dead psychologist’s apartment and keeps his practice running. Taco is such a brilliant character because he fits the archetype of the wise fool. Nobody else would think to take over a dead doctor’s practice, because its sounds like a horrible idea, but when Taco does it … it still proves to be a horrible idea, but at least he got everyone involved and a good time was had by all. Besides, the pinnacle of success comes after many failures, and if one wants to succeed, one cannot be afraid of that failure, and Taco represents that perspective perfectly.